Guano distributor



Jan. 11; 1944.

Filed March 1, 1940 c. w. TODD 2,338,882

sumo DISTRIBUTOR 3 Sheets-Shear. 1

aft 0114035 Clay-575,? 14/7000 Jan. 11, 1944.

c. w. TODD GUANO DISTRIBUTOR Filed Marchl, 1940' 3 Sheds-Sheet 2 Jan. 11, 1944. Q w, TQDD 2,338,882

ammo DISTRIBUTOR I Filed March 1, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 W zm anew M 5 Patented Jan. 11, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,338,882 GUANO DISTRIBUTOR Chester w. Todd, Ashford, Ala. Application March 1, 1940, Serial No. 321,794

6 Claims. (01. 221-142) My invention relates to new and useful improvements in guano,'distributors of the vibrator 7 type and has for its principal object the provision of a device of the character described which will rapidly and efiectively distribute the guano over the desired surface or into a furrow.

A further object of the invention consists in the provision of a hopper provided with a movable bottom which is hung or supported so that a horizontal movement as well as a vertical movement of the rear end maybe imparted thereto, the bottom being operated through means engaged by a spider carried by and operable with the distributor supporting wheel.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a spring-controlled member for returning the hopper bottom to its normal position after having been operated by the rotation .of the spider carried by the wheel, means further being provided for adjusting the spring.of the member. I g

A still further object of the invention consists in the provision of novel means for adjusting the stroke or movement of the hopper bottom,

said means being within easy reach of ,the operator.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of what might be termed a cleaning assembly which removes dirt'from the supporting surface of the supporting wheel and one side face thereof, said assembly preventing dirt from falling on or clogging on the spider which operates the hopper bottom.

Other objects of the invention reside in the provision of what might be termed a vibration check for temporarily stopping the movement of the hopper bottom and the provision of means pear to me, it will be understood that such.

changes may be made as will fall within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a side elevation.

Fig. 2 is a fragmental side elevation with parts v removed and other parts broken away.-

-moved and parts broken away.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 6 is a fragmental rear end view of the hopper and parts connected thereto; and

Fig. "7 is a, fragmental front elevation of the hopper and parts connected thereto.

In the drawings I indicates a beam having a clevis {t -connected to its forward end and to which a desired propelling means may be attached. Secured to each side face of the beam l, by means of a bolt 3 and nut carried thereby, is a rearwardly' extending and downwardly inclined bar 4, the lower ends of which form a support or bearing for a supporting wheel 5, the supporting wheel having a hub 6 extending from one face and a plate 1 secured to the opposite face, the plate in turn having a projecting hub portion 8. A bolt 9 extends through the hub portions 6 and 8 and through openings formed 4. This axle bolt goes through a bushing which forms the wheel bearing. Formed integral with the plate 1 are outwardly extending arms or projec'tions II which with the plate 1 'form what I have termed a spider for operating the hopper bottom to be later described.

Handles l2 are secured to the beam l by means of bolt I3 and nut H, the bolt l3 also passing through the upper ends of the bars 4. Spacer sleeves are shown at l5 received on the bolt l3 and the inner ends of these sleeves engage the outer faces of the bars 4', as shown more clearly in Fig. '7 of the drawings. The outer ends of the sleeves l5 engage inner faces of upwardly extending bars or standards l6 which are secured to the Hopper l1 by'means of bolts l8 and nuts l9. Connected to the bars 4, adjacent their rear ends, and supported thereby are vertically extending bars or standards 20 which are secured to the hopper llthrough means of a transversely extending rod 2| which is threaded on its opposite ends to receive nuts 22. Bolts and nuts 23 are the bars or standards l6 and 20.

As shown quite clearly in the drawings the hopper is formed with what might be termed side and end inclined walls forming at the bottom an opening 24 and the lower edge of the rear end wall is curved as shown at 25 more particularly in Fig. 6 of the drawings to more readily permit discharge .of the material onto the hopper bottom' or pan shown at 26 and which is mounted as shown, more clearly in Fig. 3 of the drawings, beneath the hopper opening 24.

A bar 21 is connected at 28 to each side of the hopper bottom or pan 26 and the upper ends of these bars 21 are pivotally connected on bushings to the bars l6 and hopper IT by means of nuts and bolts shown at 29. As shown more particularly in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings the lower ends of the bars 21 are connected adjacent the rear end of the hopper bottom or pan 26 and for supporting the bottom or panadjacent its forward end I provide bars or braces 30 having their lower ends connected at 3| to the bottom or pan 26 and their upper ends connected to the bars 21 at 32, the bars 21 being thus rigidly connected with the hopper bottom or pan 26. As shown in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings, the pivotal connections of the bars 21 to the hopper I! are positioned in the vertical plane of that end portion of the bottom or pan near the closed end thereof when the bottom or pan is in normal position, and the distance of said pivotal connections above the bottom or pan is approximately the same as the length of the bottom or pan. The front end of the pan or bottom 26 is formed with lateral extensions 33 which normally engage the forward edges of the lower ends of the bars or standards |6 as shown more clearly in Figs. 2, and '7 of the drawings.

Positioned between the upper surface of the beam and the forward end of the hopper I1 'is a brace 34 which is provided with an opening 35 to slidably mount the forward end of a rod 36, the rear end of the rod being threaded as shown at 31 and connected to the forward end of the hopper bottom or pan 26. A lock nut is Q shown at 38 and is held against rotation by pin 39. A nut 40, having the lever portion 4|, is mountedon the threaded portion 31 of the rod 36 and positioned between the rear face of the brace 34 and forward face 'of the nut 40 is a edgesof the bars or standards l6.

7 A strap 43 is secured to the bottom face of the hopper bottom or pan 26 and at one end is formed with the upwardly extending portion 44 to which 'one end of a bar 45 is pivotally connected on a bushing at 46. The opposite end of the bar 45 "is pivotally connected on a bushing at 41 to a lever 48 having at its lower end a shoe or contact plate 49 adapted to be engaged by the arms or projections I I of the operating spider carried by the wheel 5. The upper end of the lever 48 is in turn pivotally connected on a'bushing at 50 to the lower end of a hand lever 5| which is pivotally connected at 52 to a plate 53 having.

adjacent its upper edge openings 54 which are arranged in arcuate formation as shown more clearly in Fig. 2 of the drawings. A bolt forms the pivotal connection 52 and received on this bolt is a coiled spring 55 which engages the outer face of the hand lever 5|, a washer 56 engaging the opposite end of the coiled spring and being '58 which is adapted to be received in the openings 54. The coiled spring 55 normally holds the hand lever 5| with the projection 58 in one of the openings 54,.but by engaging the upper end of the lever 5| the lever maybe forced away from the plate 53 against the tension of the spring 55. The hand lever may then be adjusted to the desired position and the projection 58 received in any one of the desired openings 54. A bolt 59 is received in the outer-most opening 54 and on this bolt is a wing nut 68. The head of the bolt 59 forms a stop for the rearward movement of the hand lever 5|, and by removing the wing nut 6|) the bolt 59 may be placed into any one of the openings 54 thereby providing means for adjusting the throw of the hand lever 5|.

An adjustable gate 6| is provided for regulating the discharge of material from the hopper bottom or pan 26 into a discharge shoe shown at 62. Secured to the gate BI is a rod 63 slidably mounted in a guide 64 and extending through arm 65 of plate 66, secured to the rear wall of the hopper I! at 61. The opening formed in the arm 65 is of sufficient size to allow sliding movement of the rod. The upper end of the rod 63 is threaded and receives a nut 68 having a lever downward movement is limited by the nut 68 as will be appreciated. By adjusting the nut 68 on the threaded end of the rodthe position of the gate may be adjusted to in turn regulate the discharge of the material from the hopper or fromthe hopper bottom or pan.

When in operation the arms or projections of the spider will be engaged with the shoe 49 on the leverd48 to operate the hopper bottom or pan- 26 through the bar or link 45. It will be appreciated that at times it will be desired to temporarily check the operation or vibration of the bottom or pan 26 or to permit backing of the distributor. I provide means for doing this. At 12 I have shown a lever pivotally connected on a bushing at 13 and the upper end of this lever engages one of the lateral projections 33 of the bottom or pan 26 as shown more particularly in Figs. 1, 2 and 5 of the drawings. Connected adjacent the lower end of the lever I2 is one end of a rod 14 which extends upwardly through the guides 15 and parallel with the bottom edge of one of the handles l2. The upper end of the rod is formed with a loop or hand grip I6. By pulling upwardly on the rod 14 the lever 12 will be swung on its pivot 13 so that the upper end of the lever engaging with the lateral extension 33 will force the bottom or pan forwardly against the action of the coiled spring 42. This movement of the bottom or pan draws on the bar or link 45 to in turn swing the lower end of the lever 48 forwardly into a position so that the arms or projections ll of the spider will not contact with the shoe 49. When thus positioned the wheel 5 may be rotated without operating the hopper bottom or pan 26 and the movement of the distributor may be reversed or, in other words, moved rearwardly.

As previously stated I provide an assembly for The cleaning the supporting edge portion and one side face of the wheel 5. This assembly includes a rearwardly extending frame 11 which straddles the wheel as shown more clearly in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings; The arms of this frame are secured to the upwardly extending bars or standards 20 at I8 and braces 19 are interposed between the lower ends of the arms 4 and the frame, as shown more particularly in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The lower ends of the braces are carried by the bolt 9 and the upper ends of the braces are connected to the arms of the frame as shown at 80. Secured to theouter end of the frame 11 is a depending blade 8| which will scrape the mud or dirt from the supporting edge of the wheel and secured to one of the arms of the frame are depending blades 82 and 83, the

lower ends of which will remove dirt from the dirt towards the periphery of the wheel and then the blade 83 will remove such mud or dirt from adjacent the periphery of the wheel. .The forward end of that arm of the frame, to which the blades 82 and 83 are attached, is bent inwardly as shown at 84, more particularly in Fig. 5 of the drawings, and forms a contact surface or guide for the lever 48.- This positions the lower end of the lever 48 so that the shoe 49 will be properly contacted by the arms or projections ll of the operating spider.

At 85 I have shown a furrow opener of usual formation connected to the beam I at 88. This furrow opener is provided at its upper end with openings 81 to receive a bolt 88 which passes through the beam l By passing the bolt through the different openings the pitch of thefurrow opener may be adjusted; This is standard construction and for which no cla-im of invention is made. v ,I

From the above detailed description .it is thought that the construction of my improved.

form of distributor will be clearly understood as well as the operation thereof; Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings it will be noted that I have shown the parts positioned so that-the distributormay be moved over theQground without discharge of the guano or other fertilizer being used. The shoe 49. on the lower end of the lever 48, is shown positioned so that it will not be engaged by the arms or projections H of the operating spider. When it is desired to distribute the guano'or. other fertilizer the'upper end of the hand lever 5| will be engaged and the lever pushed laterally to disengage the pin or projection 58 from the upper or inner-most opening 54. The hand lever will then be drawn rearwardly, the desired extent, and this movement will swing the upper end of the lever 48 forwardly and the lower end of the lever or link rearwardly so that the. shoe 48 will be positioned to be engaged by the arms or pro-- attached to the hopper bottom or pan 28, forwardly and the pan or bottom being swung from the pivot points 29 will be moved horizontally as well as vertically due to the supporting members 2'! and 30 and the change in the connecting points. The throw of the pan or bottom is adjusted by the movement of the lever 48 and 5| in the manner previously described and as the pan or bottom 26 moves forwardly it places the spring 42 under tension. Whenthe arms or projections ll ride from contact with the shoe 49 the coiled spring 42 returns the pan or bottom to its original position and in this movement the lateral projections ,33 impact with the edges of ,the bars or uprights IE to give a sudden stop to the pan or bottom which discharges the material on the pan or bottom into the shoe 62. I am aware that horizontally movable pans or bottoms, for hoppers, have been provided but with my improved form of hanger for the pan or bottom not only will a horizontal movement be given thereto, but a vertical movement of rear end as well. With the lower end of the lever 48, and the shoe 49 carried thereby, positioned to be operated by the spider, at times it is desired to temporarily stop or check movement of the hopper bottom or pan and in my improved form of distributor this can be done by drawing upwardly on the'rod 14 by engagement of the loop or hand-hold 16. When the rod is drawn upwardly it swings the lever I2 on its pivot 13 and swings the upper end of the lever forwardly. As the upper end of the lever engages the lateral extension 33 the pan or bottom 26 will be moved forwardly and in doing this draw on the bar 45 to swing-the lower end of the link or lever forwardly into a position that the shoe 49 will not be engaged by the spider. This will temporarily stop'movement or vibration of the pan or bottom 26 and at the same time, if desired, the whole distributor may be drawn backwardly. The parts may be returned to their original positions by releasing the loop or hand-grip 16, the coiled spring 42 forcing the pan or hopper bottom rearwardly. As previously stated the tension of the spring 42 may e adjusted by the nut 40.

As pre ,ously stated the discharge of the material from the hopper l'I may be adjusted by regulating the position of the gate 6|. The gate will be held in its adjusted positions by the coiled spring 18. It is thought that the construction and advantages of my wheel cleaning-assembly will be clearly understood. The dirt is taken oil of the supporting surface of the'wheel as well as thatface of the wheel to which the operating spider is connected. The dirt removing blades at the side of the wheel are so positioned to remove the dirt on a level with the center of the the action of the spring, the spring returning the bottom to its normal position. I i

2. A fertilizer distributor including a hopper having a discharge opening. a movable bottom for the hopper positioned beneath the discharge opening, a rod projecting from one end of the tion.

3. A fertilizer distributor including a hopper having a discharge opening, a movable bottom for the hopper positioned beneath the discharge opening; means pivotally connected to the hopper at the upper part thereof and rigidly connected with the bottom for normally supporting the same in a horizontal position, and means for reciprocating the bottom longitudinally of the discharge opening, the pivotal connection of said supporting means to the hopper being positioned in the vertical plane of that end portion of the bottom near its closed end when the bottom is in normal position, and the distance of said pivotal connection above the bottom being approximately the same as the length of the bottom, whereby upon reciprocation of thebottom substantially longitudinally of the discharge opening, vertical movement will be imparted to the open end of the bottom while the closed end thereof is maintained in substantially its normal horizontal plane.

4. A fertilizer distributor including a hopper having a discharge opening, a movable bottom for the hopper positioned beneath the discharge opening, means for supporting the bottom from the hopper normally in substantially a horizontal position and means for reciprocating the bottom longitudinally of the discharge opening, said supporting means including-a pair'of bars pivotally connected at their upper ends to the hopper at opposite sides and at the upper part thereof and at their lower ends connected to the bottom adjacent the open end thereof, said bars being disposed diagonally with respect to the sides of the hopper, and a pair of brace members extending at an angle to said bars, each brace member being connected at its upper end to one of said bars at the upper end portion thereof and connected at lower end to the bottom, the pivotal connections of said bars to the hopper being positioned in the vertical plane of that end portion of the bottom near its closed end when the bottom is in normal position, and the distance of said pivotal connections above the bottom being approximately the same as the length of the bottom. whereby upon reciprocation of the bottom substantially longitudinally of the discharge opening, vertical movement will be imparted to the open end of the bottom while the closed end thereof is maintained in substantially its normal horizontal plane.

5. A fertilizer distributor including a hopper having a discharge opening, a movable bottom for the hopper positioned beneath the discharge opening, means for supporting the bottom from the hopper normally in substantially a horizontal position and means for reciprocating the bottom longitudinally of the discharge opening, said supporting means including a pair of bars pivotally connected at their upper ends to the hopper at opposite sides .thereof at the upper part of the same, and at their lower ends rigidly connected to the bottom at opposite sides of the same, said bars extending upwardly and conforming to the slope of the side walls of the hopper, the pivotal connections of the bars to the hopper being lo cated in the vertical plane of that end portion of the bottom near its closed end when the bottom is in normal position, and the distance of the pivotal connections of the bars above the bottom being approximately the same as the length of the bottom, whereby upon reciprocation of the bottom substantially longitudinally of the discharge opening, vertical movement will be imparted to the open end of the bottom while the closed end thereof is maintained in substantially its normal horizontal plane.

6. A fertilizer distributor including a supporting frame, a hopper on the frame having a discharge opening, a movable bottom for the hopper positioned beneath the discharge opening, means pivotally connected to the hopper at the upper part thereof and rigidly connected with the bottom for normally supporting the bottom in a horizontal position and for reciprocation longitudinally of the discharge opening, the pivotal connection of said supporting means to the hopper being positioned in the vertical plane of that end portion of the bottom near its closed end when the bottom is in normal position, and the distance of said pivotal connection above the bottom being approximately the same as the length of the bottom, whereby upon reciprocation of the bottom substantially longitudinally of the discharge opening, vertical movement will be imparted to the open end of the bottom while the closed end thereof is maintained in substantially its normal horizontal plane, mechanical means for imparting longitudinal movement to the bottom in one direction, spring means for returning the bottom to normal position, a stop portion on the supporting frame, and a parton the bottom impinging against the stop portion when the bottom is snapped back to normal positicn by the spring means.

' Cm W. TODD. 

